The Liaison can not be a candidate for any open leadership position. As such an IAB member that would be up for reselection would automatically announce to not stand for another term by taking the liaison position. The opportunity to serve as a Liaison to NOMCOM is a great learning opportunity for anyone considering other leadership positions as it provides exposure to IETF’s selection process for IESG, IAB, IETF Trust Trustee, and IETF LLC positions.
The liaisons is expect to represent the IAB neutrally and not to advocate for any particular outcome. All discussions and supporting information within the NomCom are absolutely confidential and not to be shared outside of NomCom (including with the IAB). The NomCom operational procedures and the responsibilities of the IAB Liaison are described in RFC 8713.
The IAB Liaison to NomCom has mainly two basic functions:
The Liaison participates as a non-voting in order to represent the views of the IAB and provide information about the duties involved in serving on the IAB or the operation of the IAB when requested or when believe it would be helpful. As such the liaison is responsible to provide NomCom with a (1) brief summary of desired expertise for the IAB Member position and (2) list of IAB members’ open positions to be reviewed and an indication of who will/will not run for that position as well as for conveying questions to the IAB and responses for the committee. The NomCom description is maintained on GitHub and should be updated if needed: https://github.com/intarchboard/nomcom-description/blob/master/iab-nomcom-description.txt
The Liaison is responsible for providing the IAB with the nominating committee’s list of selected IESG candidates for confirmation and reporting back to NOMCOM on the confirmation. The IAB uses a separate mailing list for IESG confirmation that may exclude the IETF chair or IAB members that are candidates for the any IESG position (see https://www.iab.org/documents/correspondence-reports-documents/docs2003/2003-12-09-iab-confirmation-process/). In order to advise the IAB if the NomCom process was followed properly, all liaisons are also responsible to ensure tat the NomCom execute their assigned duties in the best interests of the IETF community. Any concerns should be reported to the Chair immediately or via the dispute resolution process (see RFC 8713).
It is important for the Liaison to attend most NomCom meetings, both virtual and in-person. Each NomCom will set its own schedule; usually during the months of October-December, a weekly call is held. The Liaison usually also assists on (some) interviews, however, it’s each NomCom’s decision to do so or not. During the F2F meeting in November, the NOMCOM usually meets daily for a breakfast meetings and schedules most interviews during the week. When in-person IETF meetings are held, the combination of IAB and NOMCOM commitments can create considerable scheduling pressure.
While traditionally the intention is for the Liaison to attend the November meeting, remote participation might be possible as well.
See IAB Nomcom for more details.